Chase Cancels Canadian Customers’ Credit Card Debts

The lender is leaving the Canadian market—and giving its customers quite the parting gift

By Alyssa Newcomb •Published August 9, 2019•Updated on August 10, 2019 at 10:13 am

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Chase Bank announced on Thursday it will forgive all outstanding debt for Canadian customers who had either of its two VISA cards, NBC News reported.

The move was a business decision to ease the bank's exit as it wound down the credit cards, which it retired last year after 13 years of operation, Maria Martinez, vice president of communications for Chase Card Services, told NBC News.

“Chase made the decision to exit the Canadian credit card market. As part of that exit, all credit card accounts were closed on or before March 2018,” she said in a statement.

Initially customers were told to continue to make payments on the accounts after the credit card operations ceased. But this week Canadian who held the Amazon.ca Rewards Visa and the Marriott Premier Rewards Visa saw their balances go to zero.